I want to be build a vector package for mnemosyne, which is a pyqt based app and comes with a 'setup.py' install script, so as root you do:

python setup.py

and it install the package. VL 6 std has all the deps covered so it should be very easy to install this package, there is no compiling to do either.

There are a few pieces of software (printer drive is a good example) where you just want to install a number of files to various places in the file system. You could this with a bash script to install and un-install but surely there is an easy way to just create a VL package?

Vpackager seems to only work with the 'make;make install' kind of setup so maybe there is an easy way to create a makefile to do this?

Thanks for any help,

David

Solution Thanks tooth & sixforty took your advice and it worked well. I used sbbuilder after looking at some sites to get started. Sbuilder built the mnemosyne package, after I installed it failed to run. After checking the python error message at the command line (module PIL missing) it was just a matter of installing python imaging with gslapt and mnemosyne is up and running. I built this on VL 6 Std gold, but it is not a virgin install according to the advice, I have openoffice etc installed. So will see how it goes with more complex 'make;make install' packages where there will be configuration and compilation.

The easiest way to create a Vector Linux package is to install sbbuilder (current version for VL6.0 is 0.4.12.2) and use it. It can create packages for most things, though the build it generates will always require some editing (descriptions, source link, packager name, etc.).

Using sbbuilder has the advantage of creating a package that (should) meet Vector Linux packaging requirements, and allows easy installation and removal using the normal package management tools.

You can install it from Gslapt or slapt-get, then run 'sbbuilder --man' to find out how to use it for different package types.

Two things: mind that the dependency for PyQt is for PyQt 3.x; though not stated more specifically on mnemosyne's website, you probably can't -- and definitely shouldn't -- use PyQt 4.x. Your PyQt major version is probably the same as that of any KDE applications you have installed.

Second, sbbuilder does leave some fiddling to do before one gets to the coda in this case. The script generated by sbbuilder is intended to be altered before use, indeed gives some commented hints on how one might do so. Generating a script with sbbuilder is worth the time, as it will give very good info whether you alter and use that script, or write one yourself. Among others, include the option --type="python".

Oh, yeah: sbbuilder --manual. If you'd like for that to come up as "man sbbuilder", as root do sbbuilder --manual | gzip > /usr/share/man/cat1/sbbuilder.1.gz .

I had a go at this with sbbuilder. Though it looks to be easier than other things I've been working on, I gave up when warned a Python script was missing. My plate is full, and though I'd like to have mnemosyne I haven't seen it so don't miss it.

It's always nice when someone who's familiar with an application does the initial packaging and testing. Hope you will see this through, but don't sweat it.